Virginia Tech prepares for East Carolina's uptempo passing game

Beamer mentions ECU's proximity to Tech and quality of ECU's ath. dept. as reasons for regularly playing the Pirates

Beamer mentions ECU's proximity to Tech and quality of ECU's ath. dept. as reasons for regularly playing the Pirates

Norm Wood, nwood@dailypress.com | 757-247-4642

BLACKSBURG — Though Virginia Tech linebacker Jack Tyler's father, Tim, is a former defensive tackle who played at East Carolina in the 1970s, Tyler says it's a been a long time since Tim has set foot on the Greenville, N.C., campus.

"He actually hasn't even been back to ECU in 40 years," Tyler said of his father.

When Tech (1-1) travels to ECU on Saturday, Tyler said Tim will be a Tech fan instead of an ECU supporter. It's probably for the best. Given how ECU has increased its pace of play under coach Ruffin McNeil, Jack's dad might not even recognize his alma mater's football program anymore.

With an average time of 24.5 seconds between plays this season, ECU (2-0) isn't quite Brigham Young or Oregon fast, which averaged 16.7 and 18.6 seconds, respectively, between plays in games against Virginia.

Yet, ECU isn't shy about trying to wear down defenses and keeping the clock moving by completing passes in its hurry up, no-huddle spread offense. Quarterback Shane Carden, who has completed 79.7 percent of his attempts, hasn't had much trouble accomplishing that goal.

"They know what they're doing," said Tech coach Frank Beamer, who added he hopes to get two scout-team offenses going this week to increase the tempo of practices. "If you're not careful, a 5-yard gain turns into a 25-yard gain. That's what you can't let happen."

Actually, big gains aren't really ECU's strong suit.

ECU is tied for 14th in the nation in terms of most pass attempts this season, but it hasn't had a single reception go for more than 23 yards. U.Va., Southern California, Texas-El Paso and ECU are the only teams in the nation without a completion of 25 or more yards. The Pirates have two runs of 20 or more yards.

"They remind me a lot of the Patriots," said Tyler, who leads Tech with 19 tackles. "They kind of use the short-pass game as their run game. That's kind of why you see them throwing the ball so much. They try to run a lot of plays."

Along with having a completion percentage that's fourth in the nation, Carden has thrown for 638 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions. He averages 8.1 yards per pass attempt, which again isn't indicative of an offense that takes a lot of deep shots downfield.

"They just throw the ball a ton," Tyler said. "It's not like they do anything crazy. They just like to throw it around."

After posting an average of 41.5 points per game in wins against Old Dominion and Florida Atlantic, ECU requires opposing teams to keep up with their scoring clip. Tech will have to get used to seeing this kind of increased pace from opposing offenses, because Marshall will bring a similar style Sept. 21 to Blacksburg.

Tech, which is averaging 27.5 points while converting just 33 percent of its third downs (10 of 30), logging 15 punts in two games and has a quarterback in Logan Thomas with a 3-to-1 interception-to-touchdown ratio, hasn't been quite as efficient.

Tech's players have a sense that the best is yet to come as they get comfortable with offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler's scheme — at least that's the hope.

"I think we can be a pretty balanced offense, I would say," Tech running back J.C. Coleman said. "When (Thomas is) hitting on all cylinders and the receivers are catching all the balls, we can be a passing team.

"With the running backs, Trey (Edmunds) showed in the Alabama game he can do what he does and I've showed flashes of what I can do as well, and Chris Mangus showed (in the Western Carolina game) what he can do, too. I feel like we can be battlers and confuse teams. Maybe one week we'll be a running team, and the next week we can be a passing team."

Tech has won four consecutive games in Greenville, but five of seven meetings on ECU's home turf have been decided by seven points or fewer. Tech could get some help in trying to slowing down ECU's offense Saturday, if defensive lineman Corey Marshall is available. Marshall returned to the team Tuesday after a 22-day absence for personal reasons.

"It's kind of like what we've seen the last couple nights with some of the NFL teams," Tyler said. "They kind of just try to run down your defense and run a lot of plays and get you tired by the end of the game."